well i’m on my way…

I woke up at 630 not too hungover to be picked up for the far north tour.  We saw some really big trees (I was sleeping for the explanation) and the lighthouse at the northernmost tip of New Zealand.  The Maori belive that this is the place where the dead leave the world for their eternal life.  What was amazing about this place is that you can see both the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and can actually see a difference.  At the time, the Pacific was a sparkly blue and holding true to its name, much more peaceful than the grey Tasman.  We drove down to the Pacific side to eat lunch and swim.  I forgot my suit so I rolled up my shorts as much as possible but still got soaked.  The waves were as intermittent as they were in the Southwest corner of Australia and got me when I wasn’t looking. 

There were some sand dunes nearby that we could boogyboard down so we got some quick instructions and tredged up the dune, each step becoming one step backward as the sand was falling as we climbed.  After finally making it to the top, I lied down on the board on my stomach, pulled the front of the board towards me, and pushed off.  It was fun going down (but not at all unlike sledding I would do at home, minus the snow) but when I hit the bottom I released the board from my hands and ended up knocking the wind out of myself!  Once I caught my breath, I was able to laugh at myself, but decided that once was enough, and watched all the boys have fun. 

After that, we headed for the 90 mile beach (which isn’t even 60 miles long) to park in the sand, hopefully not sink, and swim in the Tasman.  Well, actually, we weren’t allowed to swim here as the current is bad, but of course I got my feet wet.  We drove down the beach, which is technically considered a highway and saw some fisherman in raingear waist deep in the water and some half sunken vehicles.  It was very cool to see the crazy waves flying by as we drove past.  The tour was probably over around 7, so I’m guessing I went to bed at 9 that night, so extremely tired.

I’m condensing the last week into one post, so I’ll only give you the highlights:

The first day, Monday, we headed south and west, away from the fires and closer to the coast.  We followed the Great Ocean Road which is exactly what it claims-the road winds in and out of the mountains, towards and along the coast for a while, then back into the rainforest.  It was amazing.  The ocean was beautiful, deep blues and waves crashing…We stayed in Apollo Bay that night at the YHA (Youth Hostel Association) hostel which was a beautiful building.  I kept on saying “I don’t belive this is a hostel”.  My hostel standards have forever been raised and from now on, I will stay YHA in my travels,when I can, more expensive or not.  It’s definately worth it.  YHA’s are so much cleaner, the beds are more comfortable, the people staying in them are travlers who like to drink wine over conversations instead of the tourists in other hostels who drink goon to get wasted.  I have finally found my people!  (I did hear that Australian YHAs do have a higher standard than those in the rest of the world.)  Cameron and I sat on the beach and watched the waves and people attempting to surf while we ate our dinner.  

The next day we set out early to see rocks, waves, and lighthouses.  I’m pretty sure that this was the day we saw The 12 Apostles, as Cameron dubbed “the second most famous thing in Victoria”-with the penguins on Philip Island the first.  We stayed in Port Fairy that night and played pictionary with some other people in the hostel. 

The third day we went on a daytrip to South Australia with another person from the hostel.  We drove and drove and drove to see another lighthouse (Uncle Mick would have loved this roadtrip), a beach, and a really really blue lake, with no explanation as to why it’s so blue.  I don’t buy Cameron’s explanation that it’s so deep it’s that blue.  The ocean isn’t that blue, and it’s a lot deeper.  The signs posted had no explanation either, which I found odd.  Maybe it’s dyed?  Once we got back to the hostel, we walked to the beach in town and checked out the wildlife and another lighthouse. 

Cameron and I took a walk on the beach in the morning-Cameron decided to take a nap so I went to wander the city on my own.  I think this was my first time really on my own in the last week.  I didn’t realize how much I appreciate solitude.  I checked out a gallery and some antique shops.  The news of the fires were still getting bigger and bigger at this point, so I decided to phone home and let them know I’m alive and well and all that good stuff.  I think I talked to my mom and sister for almost an hour.  It was nice hearing a North American accent after hearing only Aussie for a week.  I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and we left Port Fairy for Ballarat, the gold town in Victoria.  Ballarat still has all its old buildings and not many new ones-this is not very common in Australia-or at least the Australia I’ve seen so far.  It was a really cute town.  We walked around the town and had dinner at an Irish Pub.  I had nachos for dinner (sorry Dad) and they were surprisingly really good.  

On Friday the 13 we went to Soverign Hill, a reenactment of the gold rush days.  It was a pretty cool place-the people were dressed up to match the 1830s and they were selling lots of wares from back in the day.  After walking around there for a few hours, we went to the Gold museum across the street.  We checked out an art gallery in town before heading out.  The gallery housed a massive war-tattered flag.  Viewing it reminded me that I’m an American-(embarassingly) The Star Spangled Banner popped in my head when I was observing what was left of the Australian Labour Flag.  

Cameron wanted to show me a natural spring-mineral water being pumped out of the ground.  We had to park the car and walk down a road, then walk down some stairs.  I was walking down the steps, looking ahead into the bush (forest), not paying attention, and I fell.  I did my infamous roll of the foot and put all my weight on the outside of my right foot and crumpled to the ground.  Yep, I did it again.  I was wearing boots too.  The sprain isn’t as bad as it’s been in the past, only my ankle is a little swollen this time.  It should heal soon.  There’s just one thing I don’t remember:  at night, when I elevate my foot, should I wrap it?  Or leave it unwrapped?  I know I should wrap it while I’m walking around…

We got back to Melbourne around 6-I decided that I wanted to spend the weekend (and the rest of my time) in the actual city so I had to look around for a hostel.  The second one I checked could put me in a six bed room for the weekend…that was all I was worried about at that point.  All the hostels will clear out during the week.

I woke up on February 2, my 46th day of traveling, with a mission in mind. I was going to Perth! Well, actually, I was going to another suburb of Perth, one I’m sure not too many tourists see, unless they or family members of theirs ride a certain American-made motorcycle. Usually a mission like this in other international cities has proved to be quite an adventure for me, or anyone else I’ve ever sent on this same mission. Every other time, it’s been a hassle, I’ve gotten lost, been given wrong directions, and taken up lots of time (which is something I have an abundance of!). This time, it was too easy, which in itself, was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for an adventure! I took the train into Perth and asked at the information desk (since there were no maps that extended to Dianella) how to get there. All I had to do was walk a few blocks and pick up bus number 60. After riding for about 20 minutes, I saw my destination, pressed the button and got off the bus. I made my purchase, went back to the bus stop and headed back to Perth.

Back in Perth, I wandered. What’s great about Perth is that it’s a nice combination of the old and the new. In Sydney, there seemed to be one little area of the old original buildings (or what were made to look like the orginals) and the rest was new. In Perth, Skyscrapers share the same block as the old buildings. There’s a glockenspiel in the middle of their main shopping streets! The temperature was unbearably hot, even for me, so I found the very air conditioned cinema and bought a ticket for 7 Pounds, which was a great movie. I highly recommend it. What I also appreciated about it were the traveling and even Aussie references-the box jellyfish is a very important character in the film.

The next day, today, I went to South Beach. I forgot my sunscreen again, though I did lather up my face before I left the hostel. So yeah, I’m pretty f-ing burnt. I regretfully looked at the beach before I left, knowing that I wouldn’t see it again. I leave for Melbourne tomorrow.

Although I’m writing mostly about yesterday, today is Day 38 

I just realized I can post replies to replies!  Who hoo!

 I went to the Fremantle markets today to see what there was to see.  There were a bunch of stalls selling the same things found at every other market-clothes, homewares, magic pens, baby clothes, random things made out of hemp, jewellry, fruit, cakes, pies, indian food, fish…For being so advertized and talked about, I thought it would be bigger.  It was still very cool though.  I was able to sample the fruit before I bought it-and found the juiciest plums I have ever tasted in my life!  I bought 3 plums and 3 bananas for $2-which is around an American buck-fifty.  I also purchased a pair of “fisherman’s pants”-very popular pants in Australia that are so huge you have to fold one of the pant legs into itself to tie it around your waist.  They’re made of…cotton?  Linen?  They’re green with a multicolored striped print that folds down over the tie at my waist.  (Meghan, I can see your disgusted look now) 

When I started getting hungry, I went back to the hostel (gotta save money!) for lunch.  On my walk, I heard the so familiar guitar strumming of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”.  There was a man sitting leaning up on the side of a building (wearing fisherman’s pants) singing the song.  I came up on him as he was singing “when you got nothing you got nothing to lose”.  I got goosebumps.  I slowed down to savour the moment and listened with all my attention as I walked away.  Thanks, guy. 

After lunch of EasyMac and two plums, I headed back out to the Fremantle Arts Centre where the History Museum is housed.  The museum was so good.  The entry fee was a recommended donation of $2, which I happily paid.  There was a good exhibit on the founding of the settlement of Fremantle, with a lot of artifacts from those early days in the late 1800s, a great exhibit on what the building was used as over the years (prison, insane asylum, women’s home, and housing for American WWII soldiers), and an excellent exhibit on migration to Western Australia.  It was so moving and really informative.  It made me wonder about the immigration and migration of the US.  I’m finding that the more I learn, the more I don’t know, and that realization strengthens my desire to learn more.  It’s a rewarding cycle. 

Now I know I haven’t told you about many of the people I’ve met in my journey, but one guy I met last night will stand out, if only for his barefoot philosophy that I want to share with you.  I noticed that he didn’t wear shoes (I met him in the hostel-no big deal being barefoot there, but when we went for a walk, he didn’t flinch as we walked over all types of rough concrete) and asked him about it.  He told me that people miss out on so much of where they are and where they are going by wearing shoes.  “How can you really know a place without feeling it though your feet?”  I thought it was a good question, and took off my shoes until the ground got too rough, which was very quickly.

When it got cold, we went back to the hostel and played table tennis until the people watching real tennis on TV were giving us dirty looks-I guess our terrible game was distracting them from watching the pros.     

Today I will go back to the markets to see if there is anything new to look at, find an old bookshop so I can smell the beautiful smell of old books, check out the free part of the Fremantle Prison, and pack.  I’m heading on a 5 day tour tomorrow to see the southwest region on WA.  So, I might not be able to get on the internet for a few days, as a warning to those of you who might worry (Mom!)